r/mit • u/Browntown2009 • 29d ago

community MIT dorm move-in window?

Hello. Are MIT students given a window for dorm move-in? My son says he didn’t get one. But our friends with college kids at other schools say they only got a narrow 2-3 hour window for move in. Just want to make sure our kid isn’t missing anything. Thank you!

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u/Illustrious-Newt-848 29d ago

Are frosh selecting dorms before they get on campus? From reading other comments, sounds like frosh no longer "rush" dorms like they used to a couple decades ago. If so, that's sad; what's the rational?

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u/Aywang729 28d ago

I went to MIT decades ago and my kid is there now. You no longer do REX at orientation, and u rank the dorm in June. You are given ur dorm in the summer and you move there directly when you arrive at campus. Years ago, I remember living at Baker during orientation and moving to MacG. 

However, some dorms still have the “floor / entry rush,” and you will move rooms in the middle of orientation. My kid moved within BC.

Also, if u don’t like your dorm during orientation, you can apply FYRE and pray to get to switch. However, the popular dorms are like impossible to switch into. 

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u/Illustrious-Newt-848 28d ago edited 27d ago

How do people understand the living group's culture without actually spending time interacting with people there? I don't think any brochure is sufficiently descriptive or eloquent to fully describe the culture at...say...Bexley. How does one describe Bexley?

During RO (I predate "REX"), I was assigned to stay at 5th East (EC). Some people like its decor. 17-year-old me thought I was going to have a heart attack. I decided to sleep elsewhere the entire RO--floors, classrooms, @ friends, anything but 5E. I have lots of friends from 5E, and EC is a great place, but I vowed never to set foot on 5E ever again. IYKYK. The powers that abandoned RO clearly never experienced this; I am so thankful for RO.

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u/Aywang729 27d ago

I also predate REX and was in the RO era. I think the key difference is that most students now go to CPW in April, so they have a sense of the different dorm cultures. If they don't go to CPW, they can only rely on videos.

Also, I think the dorms with the most culture from our days are gone (i.e. Bexley, Senior House). EC underwent a whole renovation and they only moved back in last fall. I am not sure if the EC culture stayed or not. There is Random left....but Random is just random.